SpongeBob SquarePants 20 Years Later

The biggest name to Nickelodeon in 1999 was Rugrats. It had a huge resurgence a couple years prior, culminating in new episodes and movies. As time went on, it stopped being king of the crop in favor of the point of this blog, SpongeBob SquarePants. I know it's a day early, but it's hard to believe that it has been on the air for 20 years. Granted, some of it is very lengthy seasons, but still.

This was one of those shows I never gave much thought on when it first came out. But not too long into 2000 or 2001 did I watch some of the episodes. It's a lighter version of Rocko's Modern Life. Fitting because of its late creator Stephen Hillenburg working on Rocko for its entire run. Nothing gimmicky other than a sponge living underwater and his group of friends and adversaries. Tons of funny moments within the first five years of its run.

For someone like me, it is an interesting feat considering most people I know are into the earlier stuff and there is a new generation that is into the newer material. I grew out of kids cartoons right around 2004-05 and that was when the tonal shift occurred. Some of the episodes looked like it came out of a Family Guy or Ren and Stimpy episode. Ones like SquidBob TentaclePants and The Splinter shows how gross they can be. One Coarse Meal is one that leans towards Family Guy territory, even with the guy that portrays Plankton writing a part of the episode. I hear the last few years have been better, but I can't say my thoughts on that because I haven't seen any of them. Sorry.

It took a while for SpongeBob to get airings due to the various Klasky-Csupo shows, Hey Arnold, and Angry Beavers being the main cartoons on Nickelodeon. As with these networks, new stuff will creep up and be the new leaders. And while Sponge still gets ratings, it is a far cry from what it was getting. My question is when will it stop? The days of cable might be finished at some point since there aren't many interested in some of these kids shows.

As of now, it is one of the great achievements of kids cartoons and of the late 90s-early 2000s. It may not be a sweet victory, but its place in entertainment is untouchable. I will talk more my favorite episode in another one soon.